Dsi.ionescu at 23:07, 26 September 2026

2026-09-26T23:07:24Z

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	Narrative Therapy is collaborative, non-pathologising and strongly influenced by the work of [[Michel Foucault]], [[Gregory Bateson]] and [[Jerome Bruner]].		Narrative Therapy is collaborative, non-pathologising and strongly influenced by the work of [[Michel Foucault]], [[Gregory Bateson]] and [[Jerome Bruner]].

	~~Test test~~

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TestContributor: /* Overview */

2026-08-19T23:26:41Z

Overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:26, 19 August 2026
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	Narrative Therapy is collaborative, non-pathologising and strongly influenced by the work of [[Michel Foucault]], [[Gregory Bateson]] and [[Jerome Bruner]].		Narrative Therapy is collaborative, non-pathologising and strongly influenced by the work of [[Michel Foucault]], [[Gregory Bateson]] and [[Jerome Bruner]].

			Test test

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	''(No reviews yet.)''		''(No reviews yet.)''
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

Dsi.ionescu: 1 revision imported: Initial import: Narrative pathway pilot

2026-08-19T23:19:24Z

1 revision imported: Initial import: Narrative pathway pilot

← Older revision	Revision as of 23:19, 19 August 2026
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obsidian>Dsi.ionescu: Bulk import from Obsidian vault - Narrative pathway pilot

2026-08-19T23:06:18Z

Bulk import from Obsidian vault - Narrative pathway pilot

New page

= Narrative =

== Overview ==

Narrative Therapy is a poststructural and social constructionist approach developed principally by [[Michael White]] and [[David Epston]] during the 1980s.

Rather than locating problems within individuals, Narrative Therapy understands identity as being constructed through stories, relationships, language and culture.

Therapy focuses on helping people separate themselves from problems, recognise overlooked experiences and develop preferred stories that better reflect their values, intentions and relationships.

Narrative Therapy is collaborative, non-pathologising and strongly influenced by the work of [[Michel Foucault]], [[Gregory Bateson]] and [[Jerome Bruner]].

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= Central assumptions =

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Narrative Therapy assumes that:

* identity is socially constructed
* people live through stories
* problems are separate from people
* language shapes reality
* knowledge and power are interconnected
* culture influences identity
* people continually resist problems
* preferred stories already exist within lived experience

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= Theory of change =

In Narrative Therapy, change happens through re-authoring — a shift from a dominant, problem-saturated story to a preferred story, built from previously unnoticed unique outcomes and made durable through rich, connected description and an audience who witnesses and helps sustain it.

The therapist does not supply the new story. They ask questions that separate the person from the problem, notice moments the dominant story cannot account for, and help those moments develop into a fuller, thicker alternative — one the person recognises as truer to their own values and intentions than the story that brought them to therapy.

Change may happen through:

* externalising, which separates the problem from identity and frees the person to examine and resist it
* unique outcomes, which supply the raw material a dominant story has no room for
* thickening the plot, which makes a preferred story vivid, connected across time, and durable enough to survive future challenges
* outsider witnessing and therapeutic documents, which extend the new story into social and relational life rather than leaving it as private insight
* deconstructing dominant discourses, which reveals a problem's power as historically and culturally produced rather than natural, personal or permanent
* re-membering, which revises a person's relationship with significant others, living or dead, in ways that support the preferred story

This links strongly with:

* [[Re-authoring]]
* [[Externalising]]
* [[Unique outcomes]]
* [[Thickening the plot]]
* [[Outsider witness practice]]
* [[Dominant discourse]]
* [[Preferred story]]
* [[Re-membering]]

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= Foundations =

The school integrates ideas from:

* Poststructural philosophy
* [[Social constructionism]]
* Systems theory
* Anthropology
* Literary theory

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= Knowledge structure =

== Foundational Concepts ==

* [[Externalising]]
* [[Problem-saturated story]]
* [[Preferred story]]
* [[Re-authoring]]

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== Core Concepts ==

* [[Unique outcomes]]
* [[Alternative story]]
* [[Narrative identity]]
* [[Identity conclusions]]
* [[Thickening the plot]]
* [[Absent but implicit]]
* [[Resistance]]
* [[Dominant discourse]]
* [[Cultural narratives]]
* [[Subjugated knowledge]]
* [[Re-membering]]
* [[Narrative documents]]

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== Wider Narrative concepts ==

* [[Double listening]]
* [[Language games]]
* [[Life scripts]]
* [[Meaning-making]]
* [[Positioning]]
* [[Relationship stories]]
* [[Stories lived vs stories told]]
* [[Therapist transparency]]

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== Narrative Methods ==

=== Meeting people and externalising the problem ===

* [[Meeting the person away from the problem]]
* [[Externalising conversation]]
* [[Experience-near naming]]
* [[Problem naming|Problem naming (technique-level entry: see Techniques)]]
* [[Problem-saturated story exploration]]
* [[Dominant story exploration]]
* [[Problem influence mapping]]
* [[Person influence mapping]]
* [[Position map]]
* [[Problem deconstruction]]
* [[Deconstruction]]

=== Developing alternative and preferred stories ===

* [[Unique outcome development]]
* [[Alternative story development]]
* [[Preferred story development]]
* [[Re-authoring conversations]]
* [[Landscape of action and identity mapping]]
* [[Scaffolding conversations]]
* [[Absent but implicit exploration]]
* [[Double listening practice]]
* [[Values exploration]]
* [[Identity story exploration]]
* [[Re-membering conversation]]

=== Documentation, witnessing and community ===

* [[Narrative letter writing]]
* [[Therapeutic documents]]
* [[Outsider witness practice]]
* [[Definitional ceremony]]
* [[Reflecting team in narrative contexts]]
* [[Collective story development]]
* [[Community of concern practice]]

=== Wider narrative practice ===

* [[Internalised other interviewing]]
* [[Narrative practice with children]]
* [[Narrative therapist positioning]]
* [[Aftercare and maintaining gains]]

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== Narrative Techniques ==

=== Externalising and mapping ===

* [[Externalising questions]]
* [[Externalising metaphors]]
* [[Experience-near naming questions]]
* [[Problem naming]]
* [[Mapping the influence of the problem questions]]
* [[Mapping the influence of the person questions]]
* [[Mapping the effects questions]]
* [[Problem influence mapping questions]]
* [[Problem deconstruction questions]]

=== Statement of position and evaluation ===

* [[Statement of position map]]
* [[Evaluation questions]]
* [[Justification questions]]

=== Unique outcomes and re-authoring ===

* [[Unique outcome questions]]
* [[Unexpected outcome questions]]
* [[Sparkling moment questions]]
* [[Counter-story questions]]
* [[Alternative story questions]]
* [[Preferred story questions]]
* [[Re-authoring questions]]
* [[Landscape of action questions]]
* [[Landscape of meaning questions]]
* [[Thickening questions]]
* [[Absent but implicit questions]]
* [[Values questions]]
* [[Intentional state questions]]
* [[Internal state questions]]
* [[Future action questions]]

=== Scaffolding and distance ===

* [[Scaffolding questions]]
* [[Distancing questions]]

=== Witnessing, documents and therapist style ===

* [[Witnessing questions]]
* [[Witnessing reflections]]
* [[Therapeutic letter]]
* [[Certificates]]
* [[Documents of resistance]]
* [[Internalised other questions]]
* [[Narrative questions for children]]
* [[Situated comments]]
* [[Tentative reflecting comments]]
* [[Transparency statements]]
* [[Permission questions]]

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= Therapeutic aims =

Narrative Therapy seeks to help people:

* separate themselves from problems
* recognise their responses to adversity
* reconnect with personal values
* develop preferred identities
* strengthen meaningful relationships
* challenge oppressive discourses
* create richer stories for the future

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= Major contributors =

* [[Michael White]]
* [[David Epston]]
* [[Michel Foucault]]
* [[Jerome Bruner]]
* [[Barbara Myerhoff]]
* [[Gregory Bateson]]
* [[Jill Freedman]]
* [[Gene Combs]]
* [[Gerald Monk]]
* [[John Winslade]]

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= Related epistemologies =

* [[Narrative epistemology]]
* [[Social constructionism]]
* [[Poststructuralist epistemology]]
* [[Postmodern epistemology]]
* [[Systemic epistemology]]

= Critique and contemporary use =

Narrative Therapy has been highly influential across systemic and community practice, but it also requires careful, reflexive use.

Possible critiques include:

* externalising, used too individually, can underestimate material constraints such as poverty, racism, violence or institutional power that a story alone cannot re-author away
* the therapist's own influence in helping co-author a "preferred" story can be underacknowledged, presenting a jointly-made account as though it were simply discovered
* the strongly verbal, language-based approach can be less accessible for some people and contexts unless deliberately adapted
* outsider witnessing requires careful facilitation, or the audience's response can inadvertently centre itself over the person whose story is being witnessed
* an emphasis on preferred stories can tip into a celebratory tone that avoids difficult, unresolved or genuinely painful material

Contemporary Narrative practice is strongest when it is combined with:

* [[Power and culture pathway]]
* [[Reflexive practice pathway]]
* [[Trauma-informed epistemology]]
* [[Anti-oppressive epistemology]]
* [[Decolonial epistemology]]

Narrative ideas should support careful, ethical and collaborative practice, not replace attention to material conditions, safety or accountability.

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= Related pathways =

* [[Narrative pathway]]

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== Version status ==

Version 2.0 — rebuilt as a complete inventory in the shared school-page frame, following the [[Milan]] model: full concept, method and technique inventories, Theory of change and Critique and contemporary use sections in place.

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<blockquote>
'''Review status'''

'''Status:''' Open for review

'''Review history:'''

''(No reviews yet.)''
</blockquote>

Narrative - Revision history

Dsi.ionescu at 23:07, 26 September 2026

TestContributor: /* Overview */

Dsi.ionescu: 1 revision imported: Initial import: Narrative pathway pilot

obsidian>Dsi.ionescu: Bulk import from Obsidian vault - Narrative pathway pilot